Method of binding laminated material



195,1 F. G. DOBBS ET AL METHOD OF BINDINGLAMINATED MATERIAL 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed Dec. 15, 1948 Nov. 27, 1951 F. G. DOBBS ET AL METHOD CF BINDING LAMINATED MATERIAL 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed Dec. 15, 1948 ELECTRONIC GENERATOR 5 5 $5M M 0 m H mm n 5 Patented Nov. 27, 1951 METHOD OF BINDING LAMINATED MATERIAL Frank G. Dobbs and Stephan H. Dobbs, New York, N. Y.

Application December 15, 1948, Serial No. 65,366

2 Claims.

The invention relates to the art of binding laminated material, and relates more particularly to the art of manufacturing receptacles of the type made of flexible thermoplastic laminated material.

Desirable features for wallets and similar receptacles and their manufacture include selection of a suitable material to provide durable protection for the bills and other articles deposited therein, and a minimum of operational steps in their assembly; and these features, generally speaking, may be found in most wallets and in their manufacture, as of present day use. However, most wallets, especially of the inexpensive type now in use are deficient in failing to provide for securing means that are resistant to protracted chemical influence, such as human perspiration,'and mechanical influences, such as continued folding and unfolding. Furthermore, most wallets are constructed of a great amount of parts which makes for costly manufacture, due to the need for many dies and fixtures and the long time involved in the fabricating operations. Moreover, present wallets in most cases have not lent themselves well for production line manufacture.

An object of the invention is th provision of bonding of parts thereby obviating the use of separate securing means.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method of preparing a blank of plastic with straight impressions at predetermined locationsunder the influence of pressure and heat to form creases for subsequent folding.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following specification and in part will be obvious therefrom without being specifically referred to, the same being realized and attained as pointed out in the claims hereof.

With the above and other objects of the in- Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a blank for a 2 receptacle in accordance with the invention, with a slide fastener sealed to the blank; I

. Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the blank of Fig. 1, folded once;

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of the completed receptacle;

Fig. 4 is a schematic view, showing an apparatus for use in creasing and heat-sealing in accordance with the invention; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale, taken along line 5-5 of Fig. 1, illustrating a crease impression.

As best shown in Fig. 1, the wallet is folded from a single blank 30 that preferably consists of a plastic material characterized therein that it is heat-scalable or bendable.

The blank 33 is subjected to an operation for providing a plurality of creases or impressions. For the purpose of clarity and simplicity these impressions have been illustrated in Fig. 1 as single dot-and-dash-lines, although the impressions, as best visible in Fig. 5, have a groove-like appearance. This creasing is made on a conventional electronic heat-sealing apparatus. As schematically illustrated in Fig. 4, the blank 33 is placed on a platen 3| of the apparatus, which platen is electrically interconnected to a generator 32 of high frequency current. A knifelike creasing tool 33 is disposed above said platen 3|, and is connected to, and movable with a car rier (not shown), in opposite directions as indicated by an arrow 34. The carrier may be secured either to the piston of an hydraulic or an air cylinder, or to any other suitable reciprocable moving means. The tool 33 is either directly or indirectly interconnected electrically to the generator to complete the electronic circuit.

In the schematic illustration the tool 33 has been shown but for a single crease line. Actually all thecrea'se lines of the blank are made at the same time, with the tool. 33 having as many edges 36 as are crease lines and positioned to make impressions at predetermined locations of the blank. The edges 36 may be about akin. wide, and all the edges are substantially straight, and are flush with each other for enabling simultaneous im pression of all crease lines.

When the carrier is lowered, all the edges will make contact with the surface of the blank 30. The contact is made at a predetermined amount of pressure (for instance "lbs.) and simultaneously heat is generated as'caused by the genthe extension 52.

erator 32, resulting in impressions (generally indicated at 31 in Fig. 5), at said predetermined locations of the blank. These impressions or crease lines appear as notches or grooves in at least one surface of the blank, and it is believed that the material of the blank at these locations is being compressed resulting in decreased thickness at said locations. It has been found, in accordance with the invention, that these straight impressions facilitate bending or folding about the same'.- Where the material is folded about these crease lines while the same is still under the influence of the previously generated heat,

the folds become sufliciently preshaped to tend thereafter towards folded positioning.

The blank 30, as shown in Fig. 1, has a central rectangular portion divided by a crease line 38 to provide two substantially equally sized portions, namely an outer wall portion 39 and an inner wall portion IQ for the container |2 of the wallet. An extension 4| forming part of the' pocket l4 of the wallet, is at one end (the right end, Fig. 1) of the outer wall 39 and has an edge 42 substantially in alignment with the edge 43 of the outer wall portion 39. The extension 4| is divided from the outer wall 39 by a crease 44 and has a flap to form the inner wall 22 of the pocket I 4. The flap 22 is divided from the extension 4| by a folding crease 46 and its outer edge 41 coincides with that of the extension 4|. The width of the flap 22, however, is smaller than that of the extension 4| providing a space 5| between the inner edge 48 of the flap and the longitudinal edge 49 of the inner wall portion l9 located opposite thereto for a portion. Said space 5| provides clearance for easy folding of the extension 4| about the crease 44.

A second extension 52 is provided at the other (left, Fig. 1) end of the outer wall portion 39 and forms part of the pocket |3. This extension has an edge 53 which is also substantially in alignment with the edge 43 of the outer wall portion, and the extension 52 is divided from the outer wall portion 39 by a crease 54. The extension52, similar to the extension 4|, has a flap; that flap is designated 56 and is provided with an inner edge 5'! that is separated from the oppositely disposed edge 58 of the inner wall l9 by a space 59 dimensioned similar to the space 5| mentioned before. The flap 56 is divided from the extension 52 by a folding crease 6|.

Said flap 56. however, is larger than the flap 22, and has a portion corresponding in size to the fiap 22, forming the inner wall 2| of the pocket l3, and a second narrower portion that forms the inner wall 24 of the stay 23. That portion 24 has a part 62 that forms the outer wall of the stay 23 and from which it is divided by a bending crease 63 and with which it has a common outer edge 64.

The part 62 is severed from the secondextension 52 by a cut providing an outer edge 66 of The crease 63 is located mid- -way between the edge 67 of the part 62 and the edge 68 of the portion 24 of the flap 55; likewise, the crease BI is disposed midway between the edge 53 of the second extension 52 and the crease 6| of the pocket l3 as the stay is narrower than the pocket, as best shown in Fig. 3. Similarly, the creases 6| and 46 of the pockets, substantially in alignment with each other, are off-set from the crease 38 of the bill container l2, as they form the upper edge of the pockets that are disposed below the upper edge-38 of the container, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

After the first folding as illustrated in Fig. 2, the edges 61 and 68 will be adjacent each other, and similarly will be the edges 52 and 69, the edges 43 and 12, and the edges 42and 1|. As the last named three pairs of edge are in alignment, the edges 43 and 12 of the container |2 .will be adjacent the edges 52 and 69 of one pocket, on one side, and adjacent the edges 42 and II of the other pocket on the other side, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

The blank is subsequently folded along the medial creases resulting in an appearance illustrated in Fig. 2.

Then,- the pockets are folded inwardly, towards the inner wall I9 until'jthe open ends l6 and I1 havingedges 41 and 66, respectively, face each other across the gap 28. The stay 23 is inserted with the edge 64 into the pocket |4 through the open end I! thereof.

Then, a single sealing operation joins, simultaneously, the pocket walls to each other, the

' invention described herein.

edge 690i the portion 2| of the flap 56; similarly,

wall i9 of the bill container l2.

The crease 63 of the stay 23 is off-set from the the outer wall 39 and the edge 12 of the inner Having thus described the invention, what we claim as new and desire to be secured by Letters Patent, is as follows: 1. In a method of creasing and folding a piece of flexible plastic heat-sealable material, the steps comprising supporting one surface of said material on a flat backing, subjecting the opposite surface at a predetermined location to the impression of a thin straight edge while simultaneously heating with high frequency electric current directly said material along the line where contact is made with said straight edge to compress the material, and to make a groove in said opposite surface, at said location, whereby said material is provided with a'crease, and subsequently folding said material away from said crease along the same while still at elevated temperature so that the crease forms the outer bending edge. I

2. In a method of folding a piece of normally fiat pliable thermoplastic material, the steps comprising, supporting one surface of said material 'on a plane backing, subjecting the opposite surface at a predetermined location to the impression of a thin straight blade while applying heat at that location, to compress the material at said location to form a straight groove, and folding said material away from the said groove, whereby aid fold will outwardly expose the groove at the folding edge.

- FRANK G. DOBBS.

STEPHAN H. DOBBS.

(References on following page) The following references are of record in the I REFERENCES CITED Number Name Date Leyers Mar, 6, 1906 Gruenberg Dec. 9, 1913 Keller June 6, 1933 Wesselman Apr. 19, 1938 Strickland, Jr. Aug. 1, 1944 Rhodin Jan. 8, 1946 Stanley July 15, 1947 Varner et a1 Nov. 25, 1947 Number 6 Name Date Balsam et a] Oct. 19, 1948 Beckwith et a1 Nov. 30, 1948 Miller Dec. 14, 1948 Langer Feb. 1, 1949 Bergstein Mar, 14, 1950 OTHER REFERENCES An Electronic Sewing Machine, Electronics, 10 August 1943, pages 2 to 7.

Welding Thermoplastics With High Frequency" by Dr. H. P. Zade, Plastics, September 1944, pages 30, 32, 95. 

